Better effort does not yield better result

PHILADELPHIA – In their last few times out, the 76ers have made at least one revelation: Losing isn’t fun. Not now, in the penultimate month of the regular season. Not ever, really.

As the Sixers continue to plummet in the Eastern Conference standings, moving progressively closer to mathematical exclusion from the postseason race, pride has become a solid motivator.

The Sixers missed a chance to dish out defeat to a team that’s well within position of snatching an invite to the NBA playoffs, to beat the team that knocked them from the postseason a year ago. Instead, they fizzled late in falling to the Celtics, 109-101.

The Sixers have lost two of three since Feb. 26, when coach Doug Collins chided his guys for a lack of effort. Has anything changed?

“Absolutely,” Collins said. “That only happened one night. I don’t want us to belabor one night. We’ve played hard all the time. So one night I say it and I don’t want to go back there. That’s not fair.

“Our guys have fought all year. They’ve fought all year. And I made one comment after one game and I don’t want our team to make it look like we’re not an effort team. We’re an effort team. I don’t want that to be revisionist’s history because I said it one night.”

For the ninth time in 10 games, the Sixers (23-36) came away with a loss. They have 23 games left and they’re 7˝ games out of eighth place in the East.

The motivation to play might not be there. That doesn’t mean they’re not going to play hard. All the pieces were there for the Sixers to steal a win against Boston (32-27).

“When you look at the stat sheet and we had 64 points in the paint, 28 second-chance points, 14 fastbreak points, 30 points off turnovers – you’d think we would win that game,” Collins said, “but they’re 3-point shooting made the difference.”

The Sixers have the ninth-best defense against 3-point shooting. So much for that.

Boston poured in shots from beyond the arc, outscoring the Sixers by 18 points from 3-point range. The Celtics shot 11-for-19 from beyond the arc, compared against the Sixers’ 5-for-20 effort from long range.

Paul Pierce scored 12 of his 18 on 4-for-4 shooting from beyond the 3-point line. Avery Bradley, who went 2-for-4 from 3, was 10-for-15 overall for 22 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

“We’ve been defending the 3-point line pretty well and tonight stung us,” said the Royal Ivey, whose 37 minutes epitomized where the Sixers stand with six weeks to go.

Without Andrew Bynum (forever), without Jason Richardson (for the last month), without Nick Young (for now, at least), the Sixers have had to look elsewhere for their offense. Against Boston, Collins got seven guys who scored in double figures – a season-best for the club – led by double-doubles from Thad Young (19 points, 10 rebounds) and Jrue Holiday (18 points, 10 assists).

Perhaps the greatest contribution came from Arnett Moultrie.

Collins has said his intent was to grant extended playing time to Moultrie, the rookie who was averaging 8.2 minutes per appearance. Moultrie had 10 in the first half alone. And he was effective from the moment he stepped on the floor, midway through the first quarter.

The high-energy forward was active around the rim, cleaning up a Spencer Hawes miss with a putback dunk in the second quarter. To that point, Moultrie was 3-for-3 with six points and two rebounds in only seven minutes. Additionally, Moultrie was asked to defend Boston’s Kevin Garnett at stretches of the first half.

“Arnett, once again, played well and I hope he can keep building on that,” Collins said.

On the next possession, after Moultrie’s dunk, the Sixers pulled within one on a fastbreak feed from Jrue Holiday to Evan Turner. That trimmed the Celtics’ lead to 41-40. But Boston scored the game’s next five points inside a 42-second window, prompting a timeout from the Sixers.

That’s as close as they got.The Celtics opened up the third quarter on an 8-2 run and the fourth on a 12-2 spurt. Stopping the bleeding has been a problem for the Sixers in the second half of the season, and it was no different Tuesday.

Boston got 34 assists on 42 buckets, with seven from Pierce, six from Jason Terry and five apiece from Bradley and Jeff Green. And that’s without all-star point guard Rajon Rondo, who’s out for the season.

Like the comparison or not, the Sixers have had to go without their best player this season, as well. But they’ve played to different results.

“They’re a good group,” Ivey said of the Celtics. “They’re seasoned guys and they know how to win. They’ve been to the pinnacle of basketball. Like I said, they’ve lost a soldier and they’re fighting.”